You can post Questions/comments about the following paper to the authors before October 22, 2002.

Disfluency In The Classroom: The Role Of The Teacher

Language is present from birth. In the very first years of life it is a
very important socializing element. With the beginning of school and as we
advance, language gradually occupies more relevant places in the school
setting.

It is the place where difficulties in speaking fluently begin to arise
along with problems related to:

School can
be a very stressful for some children. It can especially produce anxiety for
those who are afraid of reading aloud, talking in class, answering questions,
getting involved in school performances and/or even talking in playtimes.

In our
experience as speech and language therapists working with disfluent clients, we
have usually seen that school is a place where stuttering children can
experience very traumatic situations if they are not understood, supported and
accepted by their teachers and their peers group. They spend many hours at
school were they face to many situations in which they have to use language: to
communicate with their partners and teachers, to ask questions, to be evaluated
(oral lessons, answering questions, reading aloud, etc.), to participate in
school performances, etc.

Likewise,
teachers usually communicate the difficulties they have in knowing how to cope
with a child that stutters in their class. They usually ask:

-Up to what point and under what circumstances can the
disfluent child be asked to do his oral lessons?

-Should I talk with him about his problem, or ignore it

-What should I do if his classmates make fun of him?

-How can I get him to participate in class?

On the other
hand, school is a place where, apart from the academic learning, children learn
to coexist with others and to socialize. It is, along with the family, the 2nd
that can give the child more support and integration.

That is why
we consider it very important that teachers be informed in a proper way about
stutteringand how they should act
when a stuttering child is in the classroom.

Starting
with this idea, at the International Seminar held in our country,(Argentina) by Dr. Herman Peters in
1998 we carried out a survey among teachers from three schools in Buenos Aires
City and the suburbs with the aim of investigating what kind of information
teachers in our country had about stuttering. According to the information
obtained in these surveys we could see that 83% of those polled (from a total
of 80) had never received any updated information about stuttering in their
professional training or later, in their work places. 58% said that they had no
experience with disfluent pupils, but at the same time, 67% believed the single
characteristic of stuttering was the word or syllable repetition. This means
that possibly some of these teachers have had disfluent pupils in their classes
that they had not noticed. Other interesting details are that 50% of the
teachers believed stuttering was caused by an emotional conflict and in the
most of cases they could not find the proper way to work with these pupils and
to do an academic evaluation. As we could notice, the same ignorance about
stuttering existed in the school environment as in other places. Old ideas
still are present and it is necessary to inform teachers in a proper way about
this issue.

From these
findings, we decided to form a team devoted to give information and advice to
educators about stuttering. As a first step in 1998, we wrote a brochure for
teachers, published by the Argentine Stuttering Association (Asociación
Argentina de Tartamudez)

Later, in
2001 we formed the Integral Team of Advice on Stuttering (Equipo Integral de
Asesoramiento en Tartamudez – EIAT) in which one of the goals is to
inform and advise in educational settings. Within this area, we published a
guidebook for teachers, “Stuttering goes to school”. This first
guidebook came up in response to the need of information requested by teachers
and also by the disfluent child himself.The aim of this guidebook is to provide knowledge to teachers necessary
to teach in a class in which a disfluent child is present. It covers a wide
range of information, from the very basic knowledge about stuttering, its
origin, causes, characteristics and warning signals for early detection. On the
other hand, this guidebook provides working strategies to evaluate the child
properly and to work on the group, child and teacher feelings, thereby
achieving the integration of the stuttering child into the classroom.

An
additional way to communicate with teachers was the creation of a web site (www.eiat.8k.com) where they can search for
information, as well as ask questions or clarify doubts. We consider this a
major approach where teachers from distant places can have direct contact with
us. Thus, we have received consultations from teachers from different places in
our country and abroad.

Along with
the guidebook publication and the creation of the web site, we hold in-services
at schools, aimed at teachers from kindergarten and primary levels as well as
headmasters and therapists.

These
meetings are divided into two stages:

I)INFORMATIVE STAGE: where basic information is provided
about language development, fluency development as a language function and its
normal mistakes, warning signals of disfluency, characteristics and causes of
stuttering and therapeutic basics. Moreover, problems that may appear in the
classroom ofdisfluent pupils are
discussed and tools which are useful for teachers to integrate disfluent
children and to make easier their homework, oral lessons and reading are
explained.

II)PARTICIPATIVE WORKSHOPS. Specific activities are
performed with the aim that teachers could try out and experience their own
feelings when they face stuttering or realize about the feelings of a disfluent
child. Moreover, taking into account the information received in the first
stage of the meeting and having our guidance, in this second stage, teachers
may think, analyze, and perform strategies to make their work easier regarding
the disfluent pupil and to evaluate him in a proper way, according to academic
activities planned for the whole group of pupils.

It is
worthwhile noting that during these meetings, a very rich exchange occurs
between our knowledge as language therapists and the teachers´ knowledge
of their teaching responsibilities, achieving a mutual and very important way
of being closer which provides a better approach to the disfluent child in the
classroom.

As we have
seen, the response of teachers who take part in these meetings is highly
satisfactory, showing a great interest in this issue. This fact provides a positive
feeling in the disfluent child at school and also enhances our therapeutic
approach to this child. If a particular case of a stuttering child appears, our
help and advice is intensified, making frequent and personal interviews with
the child’s teacher, planning strategies together, and respecting each
particular case.

Based on
what we have observed in these meetings, we can see that a teacher with the
proper knowledge can play the following roles:

ÖAct as a preventive agent: many times,
teachers are who first to detect disfluency and are the early detectors of the
disfluency. A teacher who knows the warning signs in a child who has
disfluencies when speaking, can perform this important role.

ÖRefer in a proper way: a
well-informed teacher can suggest parents refer the child to the stuttering
specialist to avoid a chronic stuttering problem.

ÖHave a correct attitude in front of the stuttering
pupil: we know that the activities performed by the child at school (giving
oral lessons, reading aloud, answering questions, asking for an explanation,
etc.) increase the cognitive demands for fluency because the child must show
his knowledge. There are increased linguistic demands because the child has to
frame the message in such a way that he or she can be understood by teachers
and partners. There are also increasedemotional demands, because the child has to speak in front of a big
audience which may approve or not what he or she says, and who may tease or
laugh at him or her.A well-informed teacher will have useful tools
to reduce such demands in the classroom, thereby helpingthe disfluent child.

ÖHelp in the therapeutic approach:many items performed in the
treatment by the language therapist will evolve better if they are accompanied
and supported at school, particularly on those attitudes developed around
disfluencies. Parents should accompany their children treatment, making the
proper changes in their communicative style and in their own attitudes and
encouraging the youngest children to develop their fluency and teachers should
know how the therapeutic approach that the child is undergoing is being
performed to help with it. A well- informed teacher can have a better
communication with his or her disfluent child, can encourage his or her participation
in those moments of better fluency, can help to the therapist to modify
negative attitudes and thoughts developed around disfluency and can avoid the
development of new negative attitudes, among others.

ÖPromote the acceptance and integration of the stuttering
child in the classroom.Especially
during school age, it is important for children to be accepted and integrated
into their group of peers. The child now knows that besides having his or her
parents, he or she belongs to a social group. It is important for him or her to
be considered equal to others in the group (Starkweather, 1997). Social,
emotional, linguistic and cognitive abilities have an influence, not only from
parents, but also from teachers and partners. Besides, we know that teasing is
very common at school. The teacher has the authority to manage these situations
in the classroom. A well-informed teacher could first of all revise his own
feelings about stuttering and have a proper attitude towards it. Then he could
transfer this to the group, talking about disfluency as about any other
difficulty that everybody has. This provides an important first step towards
acceptance and integration

Our primary
aim as a team was to provide basic information. We were surprised by the huge
demand that we received.It is
very pleasant for us to say that the response we have received from teachers
have made our work richer. We are committed to develop new resources.

You can post Questions/comments about the above paper to the authors before October 22, 2002.